Thanksgiving 2008

A few weeks before Thanksgiving we got some great news. Louise (Bobby's mom) and Howard wanted to come out and spend the holiday with all her kids in Kansas City. We were hoping Traci could make it but totally understood why they couldn't make the drive from DC. We missed them, though. It was so great to be together!! The first four years or so that Bobby and I were married were spent with Louise and we missed spending that holiday with her when we moved to the Midwest. Wes and Jen hosted at their house and we had so much fun. The food was delicious and would you believe that the picture above is the ONLY food picture I took? I guess for me this Thanksgiving was more about the people than the food. Although the food was AWESOME. I made my favorite side dish- Raspberry Pretzel Jello. Say what you will, but I love that stuff. I'm going to make more for me and my nephew Hunter to enjoy when he comes for Christmas. I made 3 pumpkin pies (2 Libby's and 1 Silky Smooth Pumpkin Pie as seen on Smitten Kitchen), the chocolate peanut butter cake, and my mom's artichoke dip. I had everything done Wednesday before we left for Kansas City. I baked the artichoke dip Wednesday morning, let it cool and then I refrigerated it at Jen's house the night before. Thursday morning I pulled it out of the refrigerator and heated it up in there and it worked out perfectly, since the oven was not available because of the turkey. That's a traditional recipe at our house so I was glad to put it out and my in-law's seemed to really enjoy it. I was excited for a side-by-side comparison of the pumpkin pies. I wanted Bobby to do it but he only seemed interested in eating the Libby's. The Fields are long time Libby's pumpkin pie fans, so I knew I shouldn't switch recipes on them, but I couldn't resist making one of the new recipes. For me there was no contest, I love that Smitten Kitchen recipe, but I think my in-laws stand by the old favorite. Except for Jen, who liked the new pie better but thought a little more spice might not be a bad thing. Maybe I'll add a little more ginger next time and maybe a pinch of ground cloves.


We had so much fun. Sophie was thrilled that her aunts would sit and read to her. We love Aunt Niki. We played Buzz Words and that was super fun, although I get really intense when I play this game. And I kept putting my arm on the dry erase board we used to keep score. By the time we were finished with the game, I looked pretty tough with all my sweet fake tats.


That's the wrong finger, Sophie. Louise is like a professional bargain shopper. She finds amazing deals on stuff. Problem is, she can't resist a good deal, so she ends up with all this stuff. She invented a game which I think she called "The Miscellaneous Stuff Game" or something. Basically she just put a ton of stuff on the kitchen table and it was a big free-for-all for the kids and adults. It was fun and Molly was the lucky recipient of the Precious Moments 8x10 picture frame thanks to her daughter Zoe. Ha ha.

Dinner was so good.

Jen, Wes, JP, Molly, Bobby, and me. Louise and Howard watched all nine of our children so that the six of us could go out and see Four Christmases. I'm not sure we've ever gone out like that before without our kids. It was so much fun. It's a cool feeling to know that you'd want to be friends with your relatives even if you weren't related.

Here's a sweet picture of Louise with my girls the day we drove out of Kansas City. They were so nice to come so far and make it possible for us to all be together for Thanksgiving. It was actually Howard's idea.

On our way out of town Bobby drove by one of the houses his family owned while he was growing up. He was happy to find that not much has changed. You're so cute, honey.